


Maybe it's a date?

by themoonowl



Series: A Real Hero [8]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Colonist (Mass Effect), Drinking & Talking, Eventual Romance, First Date, Fluff, Hockey, It's a fic with Kaidan Alenko, M/M, Pool & Billiards, Post-Mass Effect 1, Pre-Mass Effect 2, Sports, The Wards - Freeform, just a couple of guys being dudes, of course there's gonna be hockey, some backstory info, they figure out that it was indeed a date much much later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-09 22:50:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19895641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themoonowl/pseuds/themoonowl
Summary: After defeating Sovereign and shortly before they go back to hunt geth, Commander Samed Shepard and Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko go for a night out on the Citadel's Wards.





	Maybe it's a date?

It was nice that the lieutenant accepted Samed's offer for a drink. And it was nice that after the complete shit show that was the attack on the Citadel the Alliance had given the Normandy's whole crew a bit of shore leave. And here they were, commander and lieutenant, off duty. Going out for a couple of drinks.

Their footsteps were silent amidst the recovering Wards, parts of Sovereign still hovering in the places between the Citadel's arms. They were looking for one of the rare sports bars that were left standing. An Alliance-funded one too, which was even more rare. After about twenty minutes walking in circles and finally asking a VI for more concise directions they stumbled upon a double door with a neon sign above it that said "Summer of 169". Loud cheers came from inside, accompanied by the fainter sound of hockey from the TVs. At least according to the lieutenant. When the offer was made, Kaidan was quick to suggest this place to watch two of his home country's hockey teams battle it out.

The pub was filled to the brim with a large crowd of people wearing almost identical jerseys that barely took their eyes off the TV screens. The place itself had a sort of a rustic look to it; the walls had bricks in contrast to the stainless steel of the rest of the Citadel, and both the bar and the tables were made of wood, which was a rare thing to see on a space station. The long wooden beam ended on a semi-transparent door to the balcony which had a constant stream of changing scenic locations from Earth projected onto it.

Two adjacent seats on the bar stood free, right under one of the screens. Samed and Kaidan sat next to each other with Kaidan raising his index and middle finger to the bartender who just nodded and went on to fill two large flasks with beer.

She promptly returned and both men clinked their glasses. "To defeating Saren and Sovereign!" Samed cheered.

"And to a night out without a care in the galaxy! Well, for now at least."

"Here here!" Samed took a swig from the cool bubbly drink and set the glass down on the wooden table. "Glad we decided to do this, Kaidan."

"Tell me about it, I've been waiting for this match to happen since twenty-one seventy-five! Part of me hoped that the Reapers might wait until after it passes."

"In that case, good thing we stopped them."

"Yeah," Kaidan didn't take his eyes off the heavily-dressed men with sticks gliding on ice. "Say, I'm starving. You wanna grab some food with our drinks?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay, what'll you have? I think I'll have… fried onions. Maybe with a side of something else?"

"How about chicken wings?"

"Yeah that sounds good. We can share, if it's alright with you."

"Yes,” Samed raised an eyebrow at the lieutenant, “Why wouldn't it be?"

"I had a friend that was just disgusted by everything. We all knew the drill. We go out, she gets a special plate. Can't blame her though. Everyone has their specific thing."

Samed chuckled. "And what's your specific thing, Alenko?"

"I'm very picky about who I keep as a company for one," he turned to Samed with a smirk.

"Oh, is that so? I'm flattered then. And I'm hoping you're not saying that just because I'm your commander."

"Not at all. After all that we've been through Shepard, you're more than just my commander." A pleasant tightness gripped Samed's abdomen. "You're a— oh come on! That judge has it out for him!"

More angry sports yelling followed, joined by the others in the pub. It went on for five straight minutes and whatever Kaidan wanted to say was probably gone with the moment. At least the chicken wings were nice. And the onions. And the sight of Kaidan annoyed about hockey was… pleasant. The way his eyebrows furrowed together and the veins on his neck bulging with each yell… the man looked like one of those Michelangelo statues from Earth.

The constant stream of frustration about hockey continued for the next half an hour. Kaidan's—as well as everyone's faces—had a hint of dismay that deepened with every passing minute and turned to annoyance as the final horn rang.

"Your team lost, Alenko?"

"Yeah… The long awaited rematch and they blew it," he continued with some whispered unintelligible gibberish, possibly cursing. "But I'm sorry command— er Shepard. I was so focused on the game, I—"

"It's alright, Alenko. You sure are a sight when you're angry."

"Hope you at least enjoyed the view, Shepard." Kaidan coughed and scratched the back of his head before taking a swig of his still full beer. "Say this beer is really stale."

"Well yeah, you barely drank it. Wanna get a new one? I could use a second round myself."

"Nah nah, I'll finish this one. Never good to waste a good ale anyway. You can get one for yourself if you want."

Samed raised a hand and pointed to his empty glass. The bartender nodded and within seconds returned with a new beer.

"To your team Alenko! May they win next time!"

"And may we either beat the Reapers or may they wait for the next playoffs!"

Their glasses clinked and after the big gulp he took from his beer, Kaidan's gaze lingered on his drink, his brow furrowed upwards.

"Something troubling you Kaidan?"

He sighed. "I was just thinking. Space… We reached the final frontier and not even thirty years later, like out of a book some lovecraftian horror from space had to attack."

"Talk about bad luck."

"Yeah. And when I signed up for the Normandy, I… Well I don't know what I expected. But it certainly wasn't the Reapers."

"We'll get them Kaidan. Together." Samed touched Kaidan's shoulder. "Besides, this is just you being bummed out about your match, isn't it?"

He chuckled, "You know me well, Shepard. That and the fact that I've become a bit rusty with my drinking. I used to drink the whole crew under the table and now I can't even down half a beer without getting tipsy."

"You barely touched the food. Drinking on an empty stomach is always a bad idea."

"Yeah, I suppose," Kaidan took one of the wings in his hand and took a bite. "You downed your beer pretty fast though."

"I've had training. Been drinking ever since I was a kid."

"You what now?"

"Yeah, with my father. My uncle regularly made this drink called arak. Me and my dad would take a shot every morning before we opened shop. Sometimes used it on the engines too. Started them up when nothing else could."

Kaidan gave a hesitant smile. "You never mentioned your folks. Are you okay speaking about…"

"Talking about the dead means honoring them. My mother used to say that."

"Noble thought. What did they do on Mindoir?"

"My mother was a painter. Pretty famous one too, you can probably find her work on the extranet. She taught me how to draw and some art history as a kid but… I guess I was better with fiddling with things in my hands. So I joined my father's shuttle repair shop. Learned some tricks of the trade. Couldn't top his expertise however. Every repair I did he would do it better. He was one hell of a mechanic."

"And now you're one hell of a soldier Shepard. I think he would've been proud to see you here, saving the galaxy."

"I hope he is satisfied looking from up there." Samed took a big swig from his beer, downing it whole.

"Say, a pool table just freed up. Wanna have a go?"

"Sure. Gotta warn you though, I've had a lot of practice at this. You sure you're ready for a second loss this evening, Alenko?"

"Make my day, Shepard," Kaidan smirked and went to talk to the barkeep.

The pool table lit up and the balls arranged themselves in a triangle shape against the blueish texture with the cue ball standing on the helm. Two cue sticks emerged from the sides, their holders retracting back once each of the two men took one.

The match started with Kaidan's shoddy break shot. As the game went on, it became clear that he was a novice at this at best. Regardless, it was fun watching the way he squinted his eyes at the cue ball every time it was his turn. And the way his biceps tightened and loosened with every shot.

"Say, you mentioned your dad looking at you from 'up there'. Are you…"

"A bit. Is that a problem?"

"No, no, just asking. The only other person I've heard say that was Ash and well…"

"Yeah. She was a good friend. Wish we could've talked about that at least a bit more…" Samed sighed.

“Maybe she’s also watching from…” Kaidan placed a warm hand on Samed’s shoulder. “Well.”

“Yeah. I’d like to believe that.”

Kaidan placed his cue at the edge of the table and motioned to the barkeep for two more beers that arrived as Samed pocketed a four. They took the glasses in their hands and clinked them together again.

"To your parents. And to Ashley. And to all the people that died in this war. May they rest in peace."

"Here here."

"Oh and to this here, in this moment. Might as well cheer to that now. I don't think I can drink any more after this one."

"Take it easy Kaidan. You have a pool match to win after all."

"Speaking of which, are you letting me win, Shepard?"

"Now, why would I ever do such a thing, Kaidan?" Samed tried desperately to hide the grin forming on his face.

"Oh I don't know, the Canucks' loss maybe?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe you're better than you think, Alenko. Tell you what, you manage to pocket this one and the match is yours."

"What's this, giving me the easy ones, Shepard? Nah nah, I'll win the match fair and square."

"Alright, have it your way. You're cute when you get all intense about a striped one."

Samed's eyes widened and heat crawled up his neck at the realisation of what he just said. Maybe he did have too many beers for this kind of courage. He was getting rusty. Though that did put a thought in his brain—was this a date?

Kaidan's cheeks slightly reddened at his sentence and he scratched the back of his head. "Well uh… heh."

The match continued more or less in silence, other than the occasional cough or swig of beer with Samed avoiding even glancing at Kaidan, focusing on the game instead. Where there was a pleasant tightness, there was now a sense of shame and awkwardness that gripped him. That line was inappropriate. He shouldn't have said it, especially not as his commander, shore leave or no. And if the plan before was to let Kaidan win, it was now definitely off the table.

But in a strange twist, the lieutenant was close to running the table. Only the eight ball remained which he promptly pocketed.

"Told you I'd win fair and square. And you weren't holding back now, I could tell."

"Good game, Alenko. Another round?"

"Nah, this one tired me out. I may have won but it took everything I had. You weren’t kidding when you said you had a lot of practice at this, huh?”

“Well, I did try to warn you, lieutenant.”

“Yeah yeah and I should’ve listened. Say, wanna take these outside?”

"Alright."

The glass doors opened to a scenic, albeit disturbing sight. The partially destroyed Wards stood against the dark sky full of stars in a hauntingly beautiful way. The neon lights reflected on Kaidan's eyes and he sighed at the vista in front of him as he leaned on the railing, flask in hand.

"All of this…" Kaidan started, "The pinnacle of civilization and it could've been destroyed so easily," he sighed again. "No, let's not talk about that anymore. We'll have plenty of time to discuss the end of the world once we're off shore leave."

"Agreed. We should just… enjoy the view," he turned to Kaidan.

"Yeah… Hey Shepard?" Kaidan turned to him with a smile and tired eyes. "I enjoyed this. We should… uh. We should do this again."

"I agree. It was a pleasure spending time with you tonight, Kaidan."

"Likewise, Shepard." The warm smile on Kaidan's lips as he said that sent pleasant shivers down Samed's spine.

The two men enjoyed the crisp air of the Wards in silence, leaned over the railing next to each other. Samed took his time finishing his beer and from the looks of it, Kaidan had the same idea. The thought from before reappeared—was this a date? He glanced over at Kaidan. Perhaps time would have the answer to that question? And maybe this wasn't the moment to make any more moves on the lieutenant; the awkwardness from before still lurked in his mind. Kaidan  _ did _ mention he wanted to do this again. Maybe then he would try his chances. Perhaps that night might end with something more?


End file.
